3.12.05

A fleet of 300 planes operating with total immunity from international watch to illegally transfer prisoners of 'the war on terror' to secret prisons worldwide, in what is known now as extraordinary rendition, to torture and to abuse human rights outside US territory. The EU is asking Rice for clarifications and what is Rice's answer ?''Rice is expected to make a public statement today stressing that the US does not violate allies' sovereignty or break international law. She will also remind people their governments are co-operating in a fight against militants who have bombed commuters in London and Madrid. She will drive home her message in private meetings with officials in Germany and at the EU headquarters in Brussels. ''But conservative and Lib Dem MPs from the UK say that Rice 'does not seem to realise that for a large section of Washington and European opinion, the Bush administration is in a shrinking minority of people that has not grasped that lowering our standards [on human rights] makes us less, not more, secure'.